As one of the most important border towns in the world, Ciudad Juarez, located in Mexico’s largest state of Chihuahua, is known for manufacturing, exporting, and a pioneer in the maquila industry. The city is currently home to around 1.5 million people and more than four generations of citizens who are constantly adapting to the needs of the area’s industry in various sectors.

Ciudad Juarez and its sister cities in the United States, El Paso, Texas, and Santa Teresa, New Mexico, make up one of the most economically significant binational regions globally. As the second-most populated zone along the US-Mexico border, Ciudad Juarez is also home to the largest bilingual and binational workforce in the western hemisphere. Nearly half of the area’s inhabitants work in the manufacturing sector, providing great flexibility for companies. Employees even rotate in three shifts a day, including weekends, to allow for 24/7 operations.

Ciudad Juarez’s industrial vocation arose upon the conclusion of the Mexican Farm Labor Program (known as the Braceros program) in the 1960s when thousands of Mexican farmworkers were returning to Mexico from the US in search of work, giving rise to the establishment of the maquiladora export industry (IMMEX). The first company to set up in Ciudad Juarez was the television maker RCA in 1969. Since then, many international companies have established nearshore and offshore manufacturing in Mexico here to leverage the labor and logistics advantages it offers, among others. The six primary industries in the area are automotive and auto parts, electronics, medical devices, metal and mechanics, home appliances, and logistics.

Some of the most prominent companies in these sectors include BRP, Lear, Delphi, and Bosch in automotive manufacturing; Foxconn, Wistron, General Electric, and Honeywell in electronic manufacturing; and Cardinal Health, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, GE Healthcare, and in medical devices manufacturing, to name a few. The automotive and auto parts sector is one of the city’s most developed industries, with manufacturing operations providing critical components for assembly plants in other parts of central Mexico, including Guanajuato (GTO), Queretaro, and Mexico States.

The technology employed in logistics processes along the international border streamlines the crossing of goods, equipment, and materials, reducing wait times to just two hours. This agility allows for shorter delivery times coming in and out of the US than other border crossings. There is also a specialized entrance at San Jeronimo, Chihuahua-Santa Teresa, New Mexico, to accommodate oversized merchandise, such as wind turbine blades and mobile and motor homes, among other loads with excessive weight and dimensions.

Chihuahua Global, AC is one of the region’s most influential organizations that attracts foreign investment in the state. From its main offices in Juarez, this public and private partnership coordinates the efforts of stakeholders in the maquila industry, which together represent nearly 50% of the state’s entire GDP. 

With Ciudad Juarez’s long history of industry, geographic location on the US border, and excellent labor culture, stability, and availability, among other advantages, it is a crucial region to look at for companies looking to start up business in Mexico, especially those serving US markets.

More than 1,700 bilingual engineers in a variety of specialties graduate each year from the over 20 universities in the area and technicians in many fields, in addition to the thousands of professionals from other regions that arrive to work in Ciudad Juárez each year. These factors contribute to the continuous and significant growth of the manufacturing industry in the city.

Proof of Ciudad Juárez’s unrivaled stability for manufacturing operations is the international companies that have operated here for more than four decades.

Another advantage is the competitive labor rates Mexico offers, with Ciudad Juárez offering the most attractive in the region:

Lead time- Producing locally reduces transportation costs, timely delivery, waste, and overall risk. Direct Labor cost (Daily average) – USA: US $80.00 vs. Mexico: US $15.00

As Mexico’s leading soft-landing services company, American Industries offers its administrative services package, known as “shelter services,” from its Ciudad Juárez offices and a wide range of options for industrial real estate in Chihuahua.

For industrial real estate options, the new Independencia II Industrial Park, located in southeast Ciudad Juárez, has the following characteristics:

• Industrial park located on over 24 hectares with all the services of a world-class industrial park
• Located in the area with the most industrial and residential growth in the city
• The best road infrastructure
• Can house up to 6 industrial facilities of 120,000 sq. ft. each
• Flexible project to accommodate larger facilities
• Ongoing construction means there are spaces available for quick occupancy
• Lots available immediately for build-to-suit construction projects
• Availability of qualified labor (direct, technical, administrative, and professional)
• Located only 15 minutes from the Zaragoza/Ysleta international bridge (the busiest crossing for international trade traffic with the USA)
• Ciudad Juárez’s airport, along with the airport in El Paso, Texas, connect investors with Mexico’s most important industrial cities, as well as the US and Canada